Gameday
by nokhnia
Summary: Regina comes home from a long day hoping to relax only to find Ruby and Henry are watching the game. She tries with limited success to pry them away. Fluffy RedQueen oneshot, written for RedQueen Week's Family Day.


It had been, needless to say, a long day at the office for Regina.

Or rather, a long day _out _of the office. Emma had come in first thing in the morning with another one of her typical crises, this time involving two urchins who had wandered into the woods, fallen down a hill, and managed to crack their heads open. It had taken some high-level magic to put them back together, and then, of course, Regina had been dragged into the aftermath—getting them to the hospital, finding their parents, making a statement to placate the gathering mob. They'd all found a way to blame her for this somehow, conveniently forgetting that she'd actually saved the day. And Swan, meanwhile, was being hailed as a hero—though, if people thought very carefully, perhaps they'd notice that this kind of thing had _never _happened before she showed up.

Work was thankless. Tedious. Draining. Home, on the other hand…home was where at last she would be treated like a queen.

Regina sank deeper into the driver's seat as she tore down the road, imagining how good it'd feel to kick off her heels, shed this jacket, hug her son, and kiss her girlfriend. Sometimes Ruby had to work late at the diner, but tonight, thank God, she'd be waiting for her. Ruby had never judged her. The wolf-girl knew all too well the pain of past crimes, the struggle to make up for them, the frustration of facing ignorants who would never forgive you anyway. She would gather into Regina's arms and for once someone would be happy to let the mayor take control. Regina began debating which bottle of wine she should open tonight. Maybe later she would run a hot bath. Maybe Ruby would join her.

A few minutes later she finally pulled into the driveway. It was well past dark out by now. She gathered up her bags and her keys and wobbled on tired feet up to the house.

And paused.

Regina's hand hovered at the door handle. The television was_blaring_; she could hear it from out here. What on earth were those two watching that needed to be so loud? Had Henry even finished his homework?

_NA-NA-NA, NA-NA-NA._

Wait.

Oh, God, that was the ESPN jingle. What day was it? What_month _was it? Was it football season? Was there a game on?

"_Whooooo!_"

The cheering confirmed it.

She let out a small sigh. _So much for my quiet evening._

Still, Regina clung to the dream as she fumbled the door open. Henry could be told to find something else to do. Ruby could perhaps be…coerced.

"Hello?" she called out, dropping her stuff in a heap at the door. They couldn't even hear her. She scraped off her shoes and wandered into the living room.

Her first mistake had been buying that big screen television. She herself never watched anything, and she'd used to limit Henry to an hour a day. But Regina had also wanted to celebrate when Ruby had moved in with them, had wanted to spoil them all somehow. In her mind's eye she'd imagined her and Ruby falling asleep together watching a classic film, something respectable…maybe Ruby filling in as Henry's gaming buddy from time to time; she knew they both would love that…

What she _hadn't _pictured, was what she saw now: abandoned homework, dirty dishes, half-eaten bowls of salsa and guac, an empty bottle of soda and a couch full of crumbs—all illuminated by a truck commercial with pounding bass.

"Mom!" Henry cried when he saw her in the doorway, and he ran up and wrapped her in a hug. His New England Patriots jersey swallowed him. Emma had gotten it for him, months ago. Regina melted and hugged her son back anyway. At least this part of today was perfect.

"Hey, honey, what's going on in here?" she asked, kissing him on the crown of his head.

Henry let go and dragged her by the wrist into the pit. "Patriots vs. Jets for the AFC East Championship! Jets are up by a field goal but their receiver just went out with a torn ACL and their running game is awful this year so I think we have a shot."

_Excuse me?_

Regina raised an eyebrow and glanced up at Ruby, who chuckled at her confusion. The wolf-girl sprawled easily in the corner of the couch, one arm draped against its back, one slim, bare foot propped up on the coffee table. She, too, was wearing a jersey, though hers was a far better fit, hanging and clinging in all the right places. The dark blue of it contrasted delectably against her skin, too, such a pleasant surprise given her usual penchant for red…_hmm_…

_No._ She couldn't encourage this.

"Why don't you come watch with us, Gina?" Ruby asked. "The second half only just started."

"Oh, I don't know, I think we better—"

"_Please?_" Henry started in.

"Yeah." Ruby grinned wolfishly. "Some of us have missed you."

"…Maybe for just a few minutes." Regina allowed herself to be led over to the couch. Henry snuggled in between her and Ruby, but he wasn't so big that Ruby's fingers still couldn't reach around him and play across the back of Regina's neck. The mayor began to relax despite herself. She propped a foot on the table a little stiffly, since apparently they were cavemen now.

"Henry," she began after a moment. "Have you finished your home—"

"_TOUCHDOWN PATRIOTS,_" the announcer roared.

Henry leapt up, arms in the air, cheering like a banshee. Good lord, had he ever even _held _a football until this year? She was glad Ruby had been to be able to coax him out of his shell a bit, but no one needed to be _this _in touch with their wild side. Ruby herself was punching the air and making a sound that wasn't even entirely human.

"Did you see how D'Angelo jumped over that one guy?" Henry cried.

"I heard he used to be a hurdler."

"Frickin' awesome!"

"Language," Regina cut in, sharply enough to get both their attention. The game had jumped to commercial anyway. "Speaking of which," she went on, "I think a certain someone has an English assignment to finish."

Ruby and Henry exchanged guilty glances.

"Ruby said she'd help me with it after the game."

"Only because it's such a good one," Ruby said apologetically.

"And when is this exceptionally good game over?"

"Oh, you know how it is," Ruby hedged. _No, enlighten me._"Probably about an hour and a half left, but if they play ugly…maybe two…" she trailed off.

Regina glanced at the clock. Henry's bedtime was in thirty minutes.

"I see. You," she said, pointing first at Henry, then the backpack, then at the stairs. "Homework, bed."

Henry's face fell. "Can I at least work down here?"

"With this noise on? I don't think so."

"Aww, Mom!" He looked to Ruby for an appeal, but Ruby put her hands up in surrender.

"I think maybe I've already done enough damage," she said. "But…I guess…I can turn it off if you want."

"Yes—" said Regina.

"No," Henry insisted. "I don't want you to have to stop because of me. But do you think you can record it so I can finish it in the morning?"

Ruby gave him a relieved smile. "That I can do. I'll even get up early and watch it over with you. No spoilers. Promise."

Satisfied—or at least, resigned—Henry gathered up his dishes and trash and deposited them in the kitchen. Then he came back, shouldered his unzipped backpack, and started for the stairs.

"Give me a kiss goodnight?" Regina asked, stopping him halfway up the first step.

Henry paused, clearly gauging his resentment. Then he sighed, shuffled over, and kissed her on the cheek.

"'Night, Mom."

"Love you."

"Goodnight, Henry," Ruby added.

A second later they heard his bedroom door click.

Ruby reached across the table and piled a tortilla chip with salsa. "So, am _I _in trouble now?" she asked, watching Regina out of the corner of her eye.

Regina arched her eyebrow. "I haven't decided yet. Might be we need to send you to bed early, too."

The wolfish grin returned, but Ruby only settled deeper back into her corner. "I just wanted to give him something good to remember. I hope that's okay. This really is one of the biggest showdowns of the year."

_Damn. _She was single-minded. Already her gaze had slid back towards the screen.

"Do you think I was too hard on him?" Regina asked, suddenly wondering if she hadn't given this gameday thing enough credit._Would Emma have let him stay up? _That was what she really meant. She'd never admit this kind of doubt to anyone else.

Ruby's eyes never broke their focus, but she saw right through her anyway. "Nah, you were just looking out for him. You're his mother. His _real _mother, I mean, so stop worrying about Emma. Just because someone gives birth to you doesn't automatically mean they're the best person to raise you up. You know that as well as I do." Ruby pulled out a beer from seemingly nowhere and snapped it open deftly off her keychain. Then she took a swig and smiled. "You were kinda a hardass though."

"Was I?" Regina reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear possessively. "And here I was thinking you enjoyed that."

Ruby chuckled. "Only because _I _can take it."

Regina began to scratch gently behind Ruby's ear, something that reduced even her wolf to whimpering.

"Are you sure, dear?" Regina asked quietly. "Because you know how much I like to pamper my pet."

Ruby shuddered beneath her touch. "Ah—"

"_INTERCEPTION. THE PATRIOTS HAVE THE BALL. THE THIRTY. THE TWENTY. THEN TEN. TOUCHDOWN!"_

Regina swore. It was drowned out by Ruby's renewed cheering. The other woman jumped up from her seat.

"Did you see that? Damn! What a time to be alive!"

Regina felt the faintest beginnings of a headache.

"Here," Ruby said, still glowing, offering up her drink. "It's obviously lucky."

"No, thank you, I was actually hoping for a quiet evening with a glass of wine tonight."

"Hell yeah. Coming right up," Ruby said. People became so generous when they were winning. Too bad she'd only seemed to take in the last quarter of that sentence.

Regina sighed. Maybe she _would _just go to bed. But it wasn't sleep she wanted, tired as she was. It was Ruby. The wolf-girl existed someplace just outside all this petty political mess, in some clear-cut reality of animal instinct and simple desires—and right now, Regina wanted her to take her there.

Ruby came back with a glass of wine. Not in a wine glass. Just a glass glass. Regina was too tired to comment. Ruby flopped down next to her, taking another swallow from her own drink.

"The only frustrating thing about this," Ruby began, gesturing as if she were teaching a class, "is that they're going to blame their loss on their guy being hurt. But you can't pin your whole team on one player, and anyway, we have some second strings in, too. You know?"

_I don't. _

"Not that we have this in the bag yet," Ruby said quickly. She knocked furiously on the wooden table to cancel out the jinx.

Regina rolled her eyes. This world and its sports and its superstitions and its obsession with pointless things. She started in on her own drink. She was going to need it. Regina let the wine preoccupy her for the next fifteen minutes or so, sometimes watching Ruby, her lean body tensing up at every whistle; sometimes watching the game itself, trying to divine what about it was so damn alluring. To her it was like watching ants scrabble in the dirt.

When Regina came to the end of her drink, she realized, with dismay, that it was still only the third quarter. She curled her lip. This had to end. Maybe she was just being too coy.

"Ruby." Regina, loosened up just enough, turned and gripped the other girl's chin and pulled her around. "I'm going to take my next glass in a hot bath, and you are going to join me."

Ruby locked eyes with her for a moment, but they slid away furtively, still watching the action. "That sounds great, babe. After this is over?"

"No," Regina growled. "Now." And she leaned in and kissed her hard, licking the traces of salt off her lips.

"Whoa," Ruby managed, laughing with light disbelief. "Okay, wow, let's pick this up at the break…"

But Regina could feel the wolf-girl relaxing and giving into her attention. Finally Ruby let the empty beer bottle fall out of her loose grip with a dull _clink_ and brought her hand up to Regina's face, kissing her back with growing hunger.

_Good girl, _Regina thought. She slid her hand across Ruby's thigh—

"_FUMBLE! NEW ENGLAND HAS LOST THE BALL!"_

Ruby practically head-butted her in her mad scramble to the edge of her seat.

"Oh, for the love of God!" Regina raised her hand and, with a short burst of magic, cracked the screen in two. The television fizzled and went dark.

For a moment Ruby kept watching, blinking in confusion. Then she turned to Regina, finally giving her her undivided attention. "Um, did you do that?"

_Oh, hell. _Anger management—another struggle they shared.

"Yes," she admitted, adjusting her hair delicately. "Sorry, I got carried away. I'll fix it." Which was, basically, the tagline to her life.

"Carried away with _what_?" Ruby demanded.

Regina shrugged, mentally admitting defeat. "I had a long day, is all."

"Oh." Ruby's expression melted from shock to concern. "Why didn't you say so?"

"I didn't want to talk about it. I just wanted to forget about it. But honestly, I should just go to bed. Here, stand back a little and I'll get your game back on—"

"No." Ruby caught her wrist and drew her closer. "You want to forget, babe? Let's forget."

And this time Ruby drew Regina into a kiss, catching the mayor's small but contented sigh.


End file.
